Getting out

It's summer...finally...get out and have fun.

We have been trying. And some of our nature exploits have me plotting my next writing gig.

Last month, we packed Isaiah up and headed out to Starved Rock State Park. And when I say packed up, I mean it. He was bundled into a pack and strapped to my shoulders. They say our troops in Iraq carry 60 pounds on their back all the time---cripes, Isaiah is just shy of 30 pounds and I was ready to fall out after a few miles of hiking.

Still, worthwhile. The Illinois River was way up over its banks, so I was robbed of the opportunity to take an Asian carp cruise. But the views of the river valley from the actual Starved Rock and other elevated perches were stunning and the canyons (as close as we get to them in flat prairie that is) are just cool---plus this is my favorite photo in a while.

We also ventured west in the city to Sherman Park, home to mysterious invasive fresh water jelly fish and a nearby melting church.

Both trips were reminders that we needn't stare tired and bleary-eyed at Isaiah on weekend mornings. Farmer's markets, parks, fests, and nature await if I coffee-up quickly enough to meet the day. And its good writing fodder. The Sherman Park visit was good for a weekend of Chicagoist posts. And the search for invasive species has me charged up about a book or long-form article idea that I am running past some folks.

More to read...

I've been busy with Chicagoist. Since its weekend work, they have me doing all kinds of stuff...enviro...music...news...politics...sports:

• Scott Lee Cohen For Governor Rumors Grow Louder - He won't go away. The weirdest political story in Illinois (that says a lot) might add a chapter soon...
  
• Could King James' Night on the Town Mean a Bulls Win? - Ummm...no...not even close enough to be wishful thinking... But it was fun conjecture before the game Sunday.
  
• Gender Bending Chemical in Illinois Water - Atrazine. Its nasty stuff. Coming from Springfield makes me all the more concerned...
  
• Hoosier State for Mercury? - Why do I care what they do in Indiana? Cuz we share a drinking water and air shed... And there's a lot of gross stuff going on that impacts both.
  
• Going Gobbler in Bronzeville - My neighborhood is not exactly a dining Mecca, so this concept is interesting.

And if you've talked with me in the last six months, you know I am completely consumed with the whole Asian carp controversy. So I've written a lot about that of late:

• Free Asian Carp Dish from a Man on a Mission - The whole "eat 'em all" solution to the Asian carp issue gets bandied about a lot, but as near as I can tell only one guy in Chicago is trying do something with it... So I stopped into the Lockwood Restaurant and ate some raw invasive fish to see if we really can fix this problem with a knife and fork (a full two weeks before the Trib or NYT did the same, thank you).
  
• Asian Carp Take Over U of C and SCOTUS - I stumbled onto the University of Chicago's brilliant Earth Week posters featuring trident wielding carp hordes. Awesome.
  
• So awesome, in fact, that I also wrote about it on Switchboard - They Came from the Canal: Asian carp brilliance from U of C.
  
• Fish are central to my favorite post of late, FirstEnergy’s Bayshore Plant: A Real Live Bass-o-Matic! on Switchboard. An enviro homage to Dan Aykroyd and a coal plant that chews up 60+ million fish every year.

Enjoy. And feel free to comment or click on the LIKE buttons.

More stuff worth reading...

So, I am now officially on the Chicagoist staff as a weekend blogger. I will be posting at least one thing each Saturday and Sunday. I don't have a beat per se, though I'd like to interject light green stories as much as possible. Send along suggestions. And if you haven't been clocking the site, here's what I've done lately:

• So An Aardvark Walks Into a Doctor's Office... Brookfield Zoo was all over the airways this week showing off a new CT scanner---but this is hardly the first time that human medical tools, technology, or professionals have been used to safeguard their animal collection.
  
• Double Dose of New Orleans Next Week: Treme & Galactic - Pretty straightforward...Saturday, great NOLA band hits the Vic, Sunday HBO's new show focuses on the Crescent City three months after Katrina. Should be fun!
  
• New Hope for Bronzeville - My hood took an ugly knock when a fire recently crisped one of the areas most promising commercial developments, but the 47th Street Market is coming back. (Includes my photo too.)
  
• Asian Carp's Religious Use - Passover is here. So is Gefilte fish...its made largely of carp...guess what fun follows...
  
• Obama No Threat to Fishing, But What About Asian Carp? Two of my favorite topics---crazy rightwing blog-fueled conspiracy theories and invasive species!

Watch the site and feel free to mark my work with a "like," if you...you know...like it.

Other stuff...

What? You are not enamored with the new addition to our family? Not interested in baby stories and pictures? WTF...?

Well, that's OK, you can find interesting and witty stuff from me in other places too.

Since I will have a lot of sit-around time on the weekends for a while, I though it would be fun to be a weekend blogger for Chicagoist. They ran my first piece over the weekend...I guess it is a tryout...hopefully they will run more soon:

• Will Celebrity Apprentice Decide Most Embarrassing Political State? - The title pretty much says it all. Which is worse these days, Springfield or Albany? Sadly, TV will decide...

On NRDC's Switchboard:

• Federal Ocean and Great Lakes Policy - Are My Boogie Boarding Rights at Risk? (no.) - Did ya hear that Obama is going to outlaw fishing? No? Then you clearly don't read right wing blogs or listen to Rush. Good for you... If you did hear that silly rumor, let me set the record straight.
  
  
• The Crude in Syncrude: Ugliness at the tar sands duck trial - This is more for our friends to the north, but if you are interested in just how yucky the Canadian oil industry is...check out this disaster (I am talking about their PR actually, though the environmental mess is startling too).
  
  
• Gefilte Fish: The solution to world peace and Asian carp - Passover is coming and the most polarizing of its traditional foods was in the spotlight recently when Secretary of State Clinton promised to break a trade impasse that would allow containers of Asian carp fished out of the Illinois River to be shipped to Israel for ground fish cakes... Problems solved? No...
  
  
• Of Carp and Kingfishers: Chicago and Guam are not so far apart - What happens when you don't take care of invasive species quickly? Some of the critters at Brookfield Zoo are a lesson on what inaction over Asian carp could eventually lead to...
  
  
• Poisoning Flipper: Chemicals Flushed in Chicago Wreak Havoc on Dolphins in the Gulf of Mexico - Another zoo-related post. It turns out that I know a guy who can explain some of the ugly impacts of the chemicals getting flushed into Chicago's water by the local metal plating industry. He's a marine biologist in Florida...ugh...
  
  
• Asian Carp: "I feel like I was in a [bleeping] prize fight” - You don't even need to read this one---just check out the embedded video. Its worth your time...

Well, you can expect a more steady diet of Isaiah stuff---but I will try to keep things diversified to keep it fun for everyone.